We will beat Covid-19 and we must focus on island’s bright future
London beat
MAE’N fraint bod yn aelod seneddol i chi ac rwy’n ymroddedig i’ch gwasanaethu, sut bynnag y gwnaethoch bleidleisio.
It is a privilege to be your member of Parliament and I am dedicated to serving you, however you voted.
This has been a difficult and often gruelling year for us all. We have been deprived of so many of life’s pleasures and freedoms that we usually take for granted - from hugging our loved ones to enjoying holidays abroad. For all of us there have been times when we felt that the things we once held precious may have been lost forever.
I have always believed that, by working together and by keeping each other safe, we will find a way through and that once again we will be with our friends and families. I am looking forward to a time when children will once again enjoy the loving embrace of their nains and taids – a time when the normality for which we all yearn will be returned to us.
We can already see a light at the end of the long dark tunnel. Last week Pfizer announced that the final results of its Covid-19 vaccine trials show a 95% success rate, across all demographics, with no major side effects in immunising against the Coronavirus. In another hugely positive development, the team at Oxford University, working with AstraZeneca, have announced that their vaccine shows a strong immune response in adults in their 60s and 70s, raising hopes that this can protect the age groups most at risk from the virus.
We will defeat Covid-19. It will take time, but every day we make progress. As that light at the end of the tunnel inches closer we must continue to adhere to the guidelines, to care for each other and to protect one another. The better we adhere to the guidelines, the sooner we will be back in the light.
For that reason, it is important that we focus on the fact that Anglesey’s future is bright and exciting.
Our island has vast economic potential and, as your Member of Parliament, unlocking that potential and securing investment, high skilled and well-paid jobs continues to be my priority.
Last week the Prime Minister announced the UK Government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.
A plan which will mobilise £12 billion of investment and create 250,000 jobs across the United Kingdom. Covering clean energy,
transport, nature and innovative technologies, the blueprint will allow the UK to forge ahead with its legally binding, and hugely ambitious, target of eradicating its contribution to climate change by 2050.
As part of this Revolution the Government has committed to levelling up economic opportunities across the UK.
This means that regions like Anglesey, which have seen underinvestment and inequality of opportunity for many years, will be offered the resources to develop and thrive. There are key opportunities on our island that I am asking the UK Government to seize, in order to achieve its goals.
The Government last week announced the next stage in its plans to establish at least ten new Freeports in the UK – including at least one in Wales. The new Freeport model is broader than ever before and offers massive opportunities to develop existing and future trade on Anglesey and across North Wales.
I am working with key stakeholders such as the Council, Stena, Bangor University and M-Sparc, as well as speaking to influencers including among others the Treasury, the Secretary of State for Wales, HMRC and the Department for Transport, so that we can produce a world-class bidding coalition submission to establish a Freeport here on the island.
Like so many of you, I was deeply disappointed when Hitachi withdrew from Wylfa Newydd in September, but thanks to the hard work of key
stakeholders, the project is definitely not dead.
I have been speaking with Horizon, the Prime Minister’s team, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the US Embassy to explore options to ensure that Wylfa - the best nuclear site in the UK - goes into development. With my colleague, Trudy Harrison the MP for Copeland, I have established the Nuclear Delivery Group.
As co-chairs we aim to bring together key players to raise the profile of nuclear energy as we head towards COP26 - the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow next year. I continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the opportunities offered by Wylfa Newydd are realised.
Anglesey is a hub for innovation and energy production. Alongside nuclear energy anyone living on the island over the past couple of weeks will attest to our wind and tidal power potential! We also have enterprises here developing new initiatives such as biomass projects, hydrogen production and other forms of green energy. For these businesses to grow we need to develop a workforce of local people with the aspirations and skills to work in those industries. Next year the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Amanda Solloway MP will be opening an Innovation Jobs Fair that my team is working with M-Sparc to organise and which will link students and job-seekers with local opportunities.
The Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan represents an opportunity for our island that we must grasp now. Ynys Môn has the natural resources, the strategic location and the people to not just benefit from the Green Industrial Revolution but to lead it. By leading the way in delivering the economic opportunities and benefits of green energy production across the UK, we will also lead in delivering those benefits throughout the world. Our opportunities could make us not just Môn Mam Cymru but Môn Mam Byd.
As your MP, I am resolute in my determination that our island will become a global centre of green energy innovation and production.
The UK will emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit strong and optimistic. Anglesey has an amazing future, and I will do all I can to help you to achieve it.
● I want to hear your views about how our beautiful island can recover from the Coronavirus crisis.
Please share your views with me in my 2-minute survey so I can better represent your views in Parliament. http://virginiacrosbie.co.uk/covid/
Together with my team I am here to help. Please do get in touch via email, my website, my office in Holyhead or pick up the phone and you will receive a warm welcome.
Ynghyd â fy nhîm rydw i yma i helpu. Cysylltwch â ni trwy e-bost, fy ngwefan, fy swyddfa yng Nghaergybi neu codwch y ffôn a byddwch yn cael croeso cynnes.
01407 644 645 www.virginiacrosbie.co.uk